The hope is to eventually be able to work on some kind of new project, but for now I’m happy with just fleshing out different little features to be able to do the silly code things I like doing an get better at a language that got me started in programming. And so far, we’re doing it!

But hey, that’s how we learn! I’ve even been able to improve on a bunch of the systems in ways that would have been challenging or even impossible in P8, but don’t break the feel or the spirit of the game, and, I mean, that was the whole goal for starting this work anyway!

c++20 has got SO MUCH MORE goo in it than what I came up with in highschool. It’s still C++ and incredibly frustrating at times, but its felt really good to be elbows deep in it on the days I can spare an hour or two for it. The port work is almost done, but it’s buggier and messier.

Eventually I pivoted my test “game” (the code to leverage the engine setup and help with sorting out what I need and how to use it), to porting our best P8 game over. There’s no _real_ benefit to a 1:1 remake beyond having a fully designed tiny game to build using the new setup, and it’s been wild.

When my band exploded in my face earlier this year (a whole other story), I started poking at it again, and started making mad progress. SDL3 is way more mature than it was then, and the weird web memory issues I was having cleared up, which was a real shot in the arm.

Really tapped the brakes when I took a gig with a big mobile studio. They don’t want us making games, for competition reasons (which is hilarious given my history, but whatever 🙄) but they didn’t kibosh me messing with this one cuz, technically – not a game.

Could have used Unity or Unreal, but as a programmer first and everything else second, all that tooling was just a little bit too intimidating, and kinda gets in the way of what I want to be doing. I figure, I roll my own simple setup I could eventually use it to make all kinds of stuff.

I’ve wanted to make console games forever, but for a while there I was just operating in Pico-8 land. I love that platform to BITS! Having binary and web export is so cool too, but the scope is forced to be SO SMALL. I wanted something that let me do more and missed XNA/Monogame so I got to work.

I started fiddling with it a few years ago when I learned about Emscripten. I’d botched AC interview at Mojang and a couple other MS game studios (that had reached out to me!) because my c++ was just too rusty, so I figured, heck new SDL API, perfect excuse to stand up some boiler plate code.

I make it a point to question any news that I want to hear and any news that I DON’T. Leverage multiple sources, interrogate what there is to gain from spreading something false (from things as simple as hate clicks/popularity, to monetary gain). Verifiable information is out there, mind your biases

A convenient lie that fits neatly into your already crystallized world view is impossible to refute, however much evidence to the contrary is presented.

Practice being skeptical of your own beliefs. Being wrong, ignorant, or lied to doesn’t need be a personal failing.